Los Alamitos-based Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport seems to be firing on all cylinders.
The business opened its doors in 1994, when founders and owners Steven Hansen and Louie Adkins left their jobs at separate Southern California auto-transport companies and threw in together.
“We both wanted to get into business on our own,” said Hansen, executive vice president. “I had the operations experience and he had the marketing experience.”
Hansen & Adkins transports vehicles from manufacturing plants, ports, railheads and auctions to retail dealerships and auction sites.
“It’s kind of an invisible industry,” Hansen said. “We are the means that gets an individual’s car to a dealership.”
The company started out with 10 trucks and a single account, hauling vehicles out of Jackson, Miss., for Honda. It’s grown to a fleet of 600 auto transporters with 27 different terminal locations, mostly in the Southeastern U.S. with other locations scattered in Texas and California.
Hansen & Adkins’ 12-month revenue through June was about $143 million— an increase of 192% from two years ago, which puts the company at No. 37 on the list of fastest-growing private companies based here (see related stories throughout issue, list starting on page 36).
The company now has 700 employees, including 575 company drivers. The OC office has 35 administrative employees.
Business picked up when the company added U.S. manufacturers Ford and Chrysler. Hansen & Adkins now counts 13 manufacturers as customers altogether.
“In the past five years we got involved with the domestic manufacturers which has fueled a lot of our recent growth,” Hansen said. “We also benefited from their comeback from the recession as well as the overall improvement in the auto industry.”
The company didn’t come out unscathed from the recession.
“Our business dropped almost 50% in October 2008,” Hansen said.
The company was forced to make layoffs and park some equipment. Its strategy: Cut back, get lean and continue to market.
The strong auto sales of the past two years have given Hansen & Adkins a boost. The car industry saw a 10.3% increase in U.S. sales of new vehicle sales last year, to more than 13 million. The pace so far this year puts sales on track to near 14 million vehicles.
Hansen & Adkins also benefitted from competitors going out of business during the recession, though it still faces 20 to 30 competitors spread through the U.S. Hansen said five or so that went out of business meant there was equipment on the market at cheap prices.
“It was a scary time but an exciting time for us, and we were prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that came forward,” Hansen said.
Hansen cites several other factors for his company’s growth, including its employees.
Hansen & Adkins says it offers employees above-average salaries and good benefits, and has a low turnover rate.
That’s no small matter given training costs. The company has a three-week training program to teach certified truck drivers the ins and outs of the auto-transport business. The program costs the company an estimated $2,000 per employee.
“This type of trucking is more difficult,” Hansen said. “Our drivers load and unload eight to 10 vehicles per truck. The drivers have to inspect the cars before they touch them, load them, meet the dealer for inspection to make sure there’s no damage and then unload the vehicles.”
